All-Kid All-Clad

All-Clad, Staub, Le Creuset and other worthy cookware companies haven’t yet released child-sized lines of pots and pans. It probably has something to do with the liability issues that would plague a company that even began to suggest a minor be anywhere near an open flame. But that doesn’t mean a gastrokid can’t have his or her very own, perfectly-scaled set of pots and pans cobbled together from the best cookware lines. A parent could quickly spend several hundred dollars putting one together.

But this is in no way wasted money. Not only are these tiny little pots and pans real, giving them real-world oomph that inspires kids to fabricate even more elaborate fantasy world in which to use the adult objects, but they are also fully-functioning, professional grade cookware.

The tiny saute pan you bought for your son may serve as a (scaled down) 10 incher in his miniaturized, four-year-old’s world. But for adult purposes, it is actually a 4 inch saute pan, perfect for, say, blooming a tablespoon of Pimenton (Spanish smoked paprika) with which you might infuse a half a cup of olive oil. Perfect for dipping a hunk of bread in and sprinkling with maldon salt. An instant little Catalan-style snack. The kid-sized sauce pan (in playworld it may appear to be a 2 and half quarter) is actually a little copper butterwarmer, ideal for clarifying butter for a little Indian ghee. The Staub cast iron mini-cocette could braise a pork shoulder in wee world, but serve as a bearnaise boat or rustic old world sauce server at a carnivorous dinner party for grownups. Everybody wins.